Cheryl Cole hits back at Simon Cowell"s claims she "manipulated" him… but insists they"re still friends

Cheryl Cole is baffled by Simon Cowell's claims she 'manipulated' him on The X Factor, calling him 'crazy'.

The singer, 28, admitted he accused her directly of being manipulative when they worked together on the ITV show.

The music mogul was quoted in Tom Bower's biography Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life Of Simon Cowell as saying: 'She would come in dressed in her tracksuit and slippers, drop her eyes and play the soulful victim to get around me. She played me.'

Is she seducing you now, Simon Cheryl Cole insists she is still friend with Simon Cowell, despite her firing from X Factor USA

After reading excerpts from the biography, Cheryl was stunned by how Simon thought her velour tracksuit was 'seductive'.

She told the Observer: 'That's actually really flattering, because if I can seduce him in me tracksuit and slippers, I must have something good.

'You know, he said the same thing to my face about me manipulating him. I said: “Simon, seriously – you've become so cynical that you think people manipulate you, but I'm not one of those people. Maybe what confuses you is that I don't play with you; you can't buy me.”

'And he said to me: “When I say you manipulate, I mean it in the sincerest form of a compliment. Meaning: you're highly intelligent, and I don't even think you know you're doing it.”'

Highest compliment: Cowell claimed he was accusing Cheryl of being manipulative in a positive way

Despite her public firing from X Factor USA last year, Cheryl insisted she was still friends with Simon.

Even though she went into hiding for weeks following the axe, the Girls Aloud star insisted she wasn't that upset about losing the role.

She told the paper: 'I think people think it was, but it wasn't. I should probably care more than I do.'

Meanwhile, Cheryl laughed off speculation she has been sending her ex-husband Ashley Cole subliminal messages through her clothing and singles.

Subliminal messages Cheryl laughed off speculation she was sending messages to ex-husband Ashley through her album and clothes

She pointed out that songs on her new album A Million Lights have been misconstrued about being about her life, revealing she doesn't actually write them.

The full interview with Cheryl is in the new issue of We Love Pop magazine, on sale now

She told the new issue of We Love Pop magazine: 'There’s a lot of songs on my new album that they’re probably going to read into but that’s like every aspect of of my life.

'I can’t even wear a pair of jeans these days without people saying I’m “sending out signals”.

'I wore a pair of Isabel Marant designer jeans recently and everyone said they were “X Factor jeans”. I have no idea what that even means.'

She also elaborated on her disappointment in former protogee Cher Lloyd, who has publicly criticised the Girls Aloud star.

She said: 'After the show, I got the most lovely, heartfelt text message from Rebecca and a lovely message from TreyC, but I didn’t hear a thing from Cher. There was no thank you.

'So, you don’t contact me, but you want me to run around after you It’s disappointing that she’s felt the need to come out and be bitchy, but that’s up to her.'

The full interview with Cheryl is in the new issue of We Love Pop magazine, on sale now.